Bitter Lemons – Park Theatre, Finsbury Park

Writer / Director: Lucy Hayes

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Emotive & Engaging”

4 / 5

AJ and Angelina are both ambitious, strong, driven women – eager to make an impact in their careers and carve out a promising future for themselves. But when they both receive unexpected news, they realise it could impact the progress they’ve made, resulting in them needing to make big decisions that could change their lives forever.  

AJ lives for football, and with the impending new season looming, she’s keen to be the first pick goalie in the team, eager to show off the skills she’s worked so hard on, especially since the loss of her father who introduced her to the game as a child. Angelica works in the financial services industry, preparing for a huge presentation that could result in a promotion, with a well-needed pay rise. When they both fall pregnant – they are stunned – weighing up the possibilities and implications that each decision will have on their lives. When they both decide to have an abortion, they hope the hard part is over, but the mental toll and physical pain is more debilitating and impactful than either of them could have imagined.  

Lucy Hayes has created two gripping parallel narratives within a punchy, endearing script. Although the two women don’t know each other, and their lives are surrounded by very different pitches – they both mostly face the same issues. The struggle of being a woman in a male dominated industry, the frustration of having to juggle a ticking body clock with their futures and the sacrifices they need to make in order to just get by. Aside from this, AJ (Chanel Waddock) is also navigating grief through the loss of her father, and Angelica (Shannon Hayes) battles racial dynamics as a Black woman in a largely Caucasian male company. Although it seems like a lot of themes and plot threads, the show never feels overwhelmed, each of the points still given adequate time and thought, while being blended into the wider story seamlessly.  

The two leads only interact with each other in one brief conversation during the close of the show, with most scenes being standalone monologues directed to the audience. This technique is extremely effective – completely pulling the audience into the narrative and allowing the focal point to remain on each of the characters separate storylines. Waddock and Hayes are both impeccable performers, confident, engaging and emotive, helping to add a natural, believable aspect to both of their predicaments.  

Bitter Lemons does a fantastic job of highlighting the inequalities and issues faced by women in contemporary society, with strong characters and poignant approaches to what could otherwise be quite tense subject matters.

Runs Until 14^th September 2024